. The American railway; its construction, development, management, and appliances . een worthless for the same was obvious that the business of supplying couplers for the onemillion freight cars of the country could not be put into the handsof some one patentee unless his device was manifestly and pre-eminently superior to all others. It became important, therefore,to select as a standard some type of coupler general enough to in-clude the patents of various men, and at the same time so definitethat all couplers made to conform to the standard could work to-gether interchangeably. Th
. The American railway; its construction, development, management, and appliances . een worthless for the same was obvious that the business of supplying couplers for the onemillion freight cars of the country could not be put into the handsof some one patentee unless his device was manifestly and pre-eminently superior to all others. It became important, therefore,to select as a standard some type of coupler general enough to in-clude the patents of various men, and at the same time so definitethat all couplers made to conform to the standard could work to-gether interchangeably. Those who read Mr. Voorhees story *of the wanderings of a freight car will understand that any onefreight car in the United States or Canada should be prepared torun in the same train with any other car. A few years ago a com-mittee of the Master Car-builders Association was appointed tochoose and recommend a type of coupler to be adopted as thestandard of the association. After prolonged and careful study of * See The Freight-car Service, page 267. 224 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA Link-and-pin Coupler. the subject, the committee recommended the type of which theJanney is the best known example, and that has now become the standard of the association. Thisaction does not give a monopoly tothe Janney company, as there are al-ready half a dozen couplers whichconform to the type. This coupleris shown by diagrams in the articleby M. N. Forney, page 142. A per-spective view is herewith given. Thisdevice couples automatically, and thusdoes away with the necessity for thebrakeman g-oino- between the can also be unlocked by the rodshown extending to the side of thecar, and the locking device can be setnot to couple, to facilitate switchingand yard work. The mechanical principles of this coupler are agreat and important improvement upon any form of link-and-pincoupler; and the coupler question has now come to this point:A type of coupler has been selected by a technical body repre
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